The Rhythm of Social Experience

Though social interaction seems to be constituted by give-and-take, the Doing-Undergoing model of experiential rhythm is ultimately inadequate to it. For, that model represents only a detached perspective on such interaction, thereby abstracting from the oriented nature of involved participation. From the latter perspective, socialization is constituted by an interior-exterior dichotomy, in which its primary rhythm is Exteriorization-Interiorization, i. e. Extending-Retaining. While Sartre and Levinas, notably, recognize the experiential fundamentality of the interior-exterior distinction, they each fail to appreciate the active Exteriorization phase of the rhythm of experience--for Sartre, Being-for-others is passive, while for Levinas, the interior suffers an invasion by the Other. Neither entails active Exteriorization, i. e. Being-towards-others, or a reaching out to the Other, respectively.